The present invention relates to golf putters and in particular to putters with improved ball striking face configurations.
It is well known that a golf ball tends to skid a considerable distance across a putting green surface after being struck by a planar ball striking face of a putter before it begins to roll. Various ball striking face surfaces, many with face insets made of different materials, have been developed to improve the way a golf ball rolls off a putter face.
For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,616 to Rife uses a series of horizontal, V-shaped grooves with truncated outer ball gripping edges to grip a golf ball as it leaves the striking face to increase roll.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,044 to Swash shows a golf putter having a ball striking face with a plurality of concentric grooves.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,641 to Miesch et al. shows a putter face made of an array of pyramids to increase friction between the golf ball and the putter face.
U.S. Design Pat. D 411,275 to Bottema et al. shows a putter face with an array of cylindrical projections.
U.S. Design Pat. D 415,809 to Bottema et al. shows a putter face with an array of cubed shaped projections.
U.S. Design Pat. D 57,980 to Kraeuter shows a putter face with an array of diamond shaped projections.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,434 to Baker et al. shows a putter face with an array of truncated, pyramid shaped projections.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,530,052 to Stuff et al. and 4,508,342 to Drake both show putter faces with vertical grooves.
U.S. Design Pat. D 63,284 to Challis shows a putter face with an array of square projections.